Royal Never Give Up (RNG) have finished Day 2 at the top of TI11 Group A after crushing EU hopefuls Gaimin Gladiators (GG).
RNG earned their spot in the competition by topping the China qualifiers and are now on a nine game win-streak. Their loss against Team Liquid in their first TI11 match is the only game they’ve dropped so far in the tournament.
The best of two got off to a flying start for RNG, with xNova’s position five Snapfire almost managing to secure a RAMPAGE at 12 minutes. Ghost snatched the final kill away from him on the carry Morphling.
Gaimin Gladiators desperately tried to cling on to the match, taking an early Roshan in both games after a rocky start, but couldn’t find the space to close a match out in their favour. RNG tore through the squad to finish the games 33-7, and 32-15.
Ghost, who has never even played on lan before let alone played at TI, absolutely dunked on the Gaimin Gladiators boys; rounding out the series with a fountain dive on his Shadow Fiend to clean up the final heroes standing.
PGL awarded the MVP for game one to Chalice, the position three player for RNG, for his Dark Seer performance. He went 3/1/24, with an astonishing 82% kill participation; setting up some great combos with vacuum and allowing Snapfire and Leshrac to hit stuns and ults much more effectively.
In match two, the MVP went to mid player Somnus for his Storm Spirit plays, which saw him end the game 13/3/10. He dealt a painful 27.9K damage hero damage, and had a 70% kill participation.
What comes next for RNG ?
RNG have secured their spot at the top of the TI11 group with just four series left to play. The squad will face up against EG, Hokori, PSG.LGD and OG over the next two days. Although their upper-bracket run isn’t secured, the group-topping position puts them in a pretty good standing heading into the final half of the groups.
Although it’s still technically possible they could be eliminated, it’s pretty unlikely. RNG would have to lose every game from now on, AND bottom of the table BetBoom or Soniqs would need to win every single one of their eight remaining TI11 games for that to be on the cards.
However, with their loss GG are now sitting in a very precarious sixth position. They’re currently tied with SA underdogs Hokori, who took a game off PSG.LGD in an early upset. With group dominators EG, TI favourites LGD, and Team Liquid still to play, GG’s main event future is looking far darker than hoped; with the squad potentially facing a lower bracket run if they don’t manage to make some pretty swift changes.
GG’s future at TI11
Sean “Snare” Rihlamvu, who casted the game alongside Luke “Fluke” Pate, explained his feelings on GG’s position on the broadcast. He said: “At this point it really does feel like they have to find a new idea and they have to find it fast. This is another loss for them, and it’s a painful one at that.
“There are some glimmers of hope that are available to them but I’m just hoping that they can figure out a strategy which enables them a little bit more so they can play their natural gamestyle. Right now, if they continue at this pace, up against those very difficult opponents, suddenly their last match-up against Soniqs is looking like not a game between under bracket or the upper bracket; it’s looking like the game between lower bracket and elimination, which nobody ever wants to be playing for.”
Tomorrow, October 17, GG will face up against EG, PSG.LGD, and Team Liquid. These matches could secure their position in the main event, or leave them battling Soniqs to avoid elimination on Tuesday, October 18. The games will be shown on PGL’s C and D streams.
RNG will take on EG, Hokori, and PSG.LGD tomorrow, before rounding off the TI11 group stages with a match-up against OG on Tuesday. The games will be broadcast on PGL’s A stream and E streams.
For all the latest from the group stage here at the International, stick with esports.gg!
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